


Little One

by The_Falling_Star



Series: A call, a withering echo, and it sings all-knowing words [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Big Brother W. D. Gaster, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Original Character(s), POV W. D. Gaster, Possessive Behavior, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Size Difference, Undertale Monsters on the Surface
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 06:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26348314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Falling_Star/pseuds/The_Falling_Star
Summary: Gaster had long since known his sins would cost him.Yet he’d never anticipated the torment of having another settle his debt.An addition toFrom the Mouth of an Injured Head.
Relationships: W. D. Gaster & Papyrus, W. D. Gaster/Original Female Character(s)
Series: A call, a withering echo, and it sings all-knowing words [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753795
Comments: 16
Kudos: 48





	Little One

**Author's Note:**

> I really liked how [There Beneath](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24293251/chapters/58557841) ended so I didn’t want to append it with this so, uh, consider this Chapter 30.5, or a deleted scene on the “special features” section of your _From the Mouth of an Injured Head_ blu-ray. It takes place immediately following the events of [Chapter 30](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23580004/chapters/63466102). **It is a spoiler for Chapter 31 (Epilogue).**

  
  


_Hey, little one_

_I'm so scared of what this could have been_

_I know that today I lost my only little one_

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Alex’s eye was red.

At first he’d thought it was blood, the surrounding tissues wounded, but as he carefully held her eye open and continued to stare into that crimson iris he soon recognized it for what it was.

And what it meant.

He was a scientist, extrapolating patterns from datasets was second nature. Chara had Alex’s eye, and a shard of her SOUL. Alex had Chara’s eye, and therefore...

He thought back to how she’d acted Underground immediately following her return. How _determined_ she had been to keep him alive. There had been no fear, no doubt, just that single-minded _drive_ to survive, the overpowering will to continue fighting a natural disaster. How it overwhelmed the tie between their SOULs, momentarily overriding his own terror.

A shard of her SOUL must now surely be as red as this eye.

...She had done it for him. She had sacrificed a part of herself _so she could return to him._

[Oh, Alex...] he breathed. 

“It was worth it.” INTEGRITY spoke.

He would be a fool to argue with the human, especially after the damage had already been done. Instead he sighed heavily, drawing upon his magic, the tips of his phalanges glowing with green healing energy he directed into mending her wounds.

In so much as he could mend anything at all.

* * *

Everyone stumbled into the military vehicles to be transported back down the mountain as the sun set, the blazing orange sphere dipping ever westward painting the surrounding forests gold. Gaster, perhaps unthinkingly, had elected to board the last truck in the convoy with only a single royal guard for company in the rear of the vehicle. He was exhausted and merely the idea of speaking with his brothers, the current Royal Scientist, his former colleagues or, stars forbid, _the Queen_ , left him feeling drained and fatigued beyond what the trials of the day had already wrought. 

Alex had almost immediately fallen asleep after being healed, her magic all but completely depleted, sparing her any further ordeals of the waking world. He held her tiny form in his arms, his SOUL aching at seeing her so spent. She was so light, so _frail_ , like a little bird. It dredged up those terrible memories of watching her wither away.

_Stars above_ , it had been a nightmare. There was no torture more exquisite than watching his star choking for air, gasping for breath, slowly suffering a fate he failed to protect her from, never had he felt such complete and helpless _despair._

_It was his fault._

He banished those recollections, adjusting her body in his lap as the truck rolled down the gravel road, doing his best to keep her supported and comfortable. She murmured in response, curling up against him, heedless of his hard bones. He smirked, looking down at her, a conjured hand brushing the hair from her forehead, allowing him a better view of her resting face.

It wasn’t the pained visage he’d seen in the Underground. She was here. She was safe.

Movement in his periphery made his eyelights dart up, glancing at the monster that also occupied the back of the vehicle, a dog with white fur in royal guard armor. He was looking at his human with open curiosity, sniffing heavily through his nose to catch her scent.

Gaster’s rage sparked, his magic injected into the air, sharp as syringes filled with potent venom. She belonged to _him._ No other should have been able to even _look_ upon her in such a vulnerable state.

The dog whimpered and averted his eyes.

Gaster’s magic abated, the hint of a smug sneer on his broken face. 

The act was petty, surely, but so very _satisfying_.

He couldn’t prevent her fall, he couldn’t restore her eye nor her SOUL, but this moment, this was within in his power, this he could control.

And how he so loved control.

* * *

There was a vague plan to regroup in the morning to discuss in detail what had happened and begin investigations and inspections into the state of the CORE and the rest of the Underground (there was a delusional belief held by those who had been on the Surface during the collapse that it couldn’t possibly be _gone_ ) but nothing more could be decided beyond a time and place, considering the state of those gathered; Beyond Alex’s unconsciousness, Sans was a skeletal sloth clinging to Papyrus’s back, asleep. Frisk was also out like a light, while Asriel and Chara were close to nodding off as well. 

Gaster’s sole focus was to get his human inside her home, resting in her own bed. Whatever affirmative signs or grunted agreements he made were in pursuit of that one, singular goal.

The Underground could burn for all he cared.

He and his brothers were dropped off at their apartment building, the sun having long since descended below the horizon, the apartment complex flooded in orange-hued halon lights. Gaster and Papyrus began silently climbing the stairs with their precious cargo. 

“ARE YOU OKAY?” Papyrus asked apropos of nothing halfway up the stairs.

His first instinct was to lie.

The feeling of Alex’s sleeping body in his arms killed the deceiving words before he could thoughtlessly give voice to them.

[No.] he spoke lowly after another flight of stairs was ascended, [I have not been for quite some time.]

“DO YOU WANT TO STAY WITH US FOR TONIGHT?” Papyrus offered, stopping before his and Sans’s apartment. 

Gaster looked over his youngest brother, one of the few beings he had to look _up_ to meet his eye sockets. Where such kindness had sprung up from a family like theirs was unknown, like a bright bloom amidst a thicket of black thorns. Papyrus was surely the best of them, and Gaster had no doubt Sans would agree.

[No, thank you. While I appreciate the offer, I’d rather have her rest someplace more familiar.] he finally answered.

Papyrus studied him for a moment, “YOU CAN TALK TO ME, YOU KNOW. SANS WON’T. HE THINKS HE IS DOING ME A FAVOR.”

[I believe that is my fault. He only wishes to protect you, and he may have not taken on the mantle of the invulnerable older brother had I been there.]

“YOU’RE HERE NOW.” Papyrus said firmly, “WE’RE BROTHERS. WE SHOULDN’T HIDE OUR PROBLEMS FROM EACH OTHER. BURYING THEM DOESN’T MAKE IT GO AWAY.”

Since when did Papyrus become so _wise?_

[No, I suppose not...] Gaster reluctantly spoke, [Regardless, I believe that would be a discussion for another time...But it is a discussion worth having.]

How many years of grievances lay between them? How many years’ worth of animosity did he have to reconcile?

Too much to deal with at the moment. He had other concerns at present, mainly in the form of one slumbering human in his arms.

Papyrus bid him good-night, and then surprisingly pulled him into a warm side hug, mindful of the human in his arms, before releasing him and carefully petting Alex’s hair.

Oddly, that did not trigger a response of overwhelming possessiveness, the affectionate gesture so _brotherly._ Papyrus looked down at the sleeping girl, as if overjoyed that she was simply just there, alive. Truly, it was amazing how many lives she had touched in such a short time.

He carried her one floor higher, reaching apartment 404, standing before the front door for the first time in weeks. Was it still solely hers, or did he hold some sort of claim to it now as well? What it her home and he a still a guest? Or was he something more now?

So many questions he had for the young woman he held.

Another arose as he turned the handle, the door unyielding. He attempted to breach it again, the solid door not budging in the least.

_Damn it all,_ he thought with a sigh.

[Alex,] he quietly prompted, phalanges brushing her cheek. His human stirred, her eyes peeking open.

His breath caught in his ribs at the sight of those mismatched irises. Was it so wrong of him to mourn that blue he had found so stunningly beautiful? He tried not to think on it, lest she catch the direction his mind was going.

(He wanted to investigate that capability as soon as possible. He could sometimes hear her _thoughts_ as well as her emotions, just what was that link between their SOULs?)

<Where are your keys?> he asked once she was awake enough to read his signs.

She blinked tiredly, then lifted a hand, her magic sputtering like a wet match in her exhausted state. She flicked her wrist, then an audible click sounded, the door unlocked from the other side as the deadbolt slid open.

He blinked, recalling now how they’d last departed her home and she had similarly locked the door with her magic alone.

...Did it even occur to her that she could do that with _any_ door?

(He filed away that information for later.)

Passageway now open, he turned the handle and carried her inside, occasionally glancing down to catch her bleary gaze. 

“You gonna set me down?” she asked, voice thick with sleep.

<Must I?> he questioned with a smirk.

She looked up at him, almost blankly, before a slow, tired and so _happy_ of a smile spread across her lips. “...You’re really cute.” she slurred, and he had to fight to keep the blush of his magic from alighting his skull. She must still be half-asleep, speaking with such an unreserved honesty. What did she ever see in him that no one else did? Why did she look at him so longingly when everyone else viewed him with degrees of disgust?

<You are delirious. You need to rest.>

“No.” she uttered obstinately, a little louder now. She started squirming in his grasp, and he quickly set her down for fear of dropping her. As soon as she was mostly sure of her footing she began walking away.

<What are you doing?> he asked with alarm.

“Shower.” she murmured.

<You need to--Alex--Wait--> Damn it, she wasn’t looking at him. [Alex!] he called, and she paused for a half-second before continuing down the hall to the bathroom, her steps practically stumbling, forcing him to chase after her.

Stars, she was going to be the death of him.

“I’m covered in dirt and tree sap and I don’t think I’ve ever been as sweaty as I was today. I’m not going to bed like this.” she firmly stated.

<You’re exhausted, just go to sleep, we can wash the bedding tomorrow.> he argued. 

She shook her head, “It’ll just take five minutes.” She froze for a second, turning to him with a suggestive look in her varicolored eyes that made his SOUL quaver.

“You could join me.” she said with a hooded gaze, pulling her shirt off before he could stop her, leaving her torso bare except for the small covering of her bra.

...So much _skin._

His phalanges unthinkingly twitched towards her, wanting nothing more than to rake them over every inch of his human. Visions of him pinning her naked body against the shower wall, water running over their bodies, marring her nubile form with bite marks filled his head.

Why was she so keen on torturing him like this?

(And why was she always so unreservedly amorous when she was tired?)

<You are barely standing-> he weakly signed, doing his best to maintain eye contact and not allow his eyelights to drift lower.

“Yeah, so help me clean off.”

She was _killing_ him. Stars, he had been so close to succumbing to his urges in the Underground. She was so _eager_ , so _willing_ , all he had to do was indulge those baser instincts. He could have taken her so many times, reveled in the wondrous feeling of her body, experienced the full extent of her soft skin, her warm flesh, her delicate form. He could have made her _his_ , taken her innocence, defiled her, touched her in ways no one else had and no one ever would so long as he lived. 

...He couldn’t do that to her. 

...

_Not yet._

(She was so _small._ So _fragile._ Did she know how easily he could hurt her? He could break her bones as if they were dry twigs if he wanted, snap her neck like a toothpick.)

(Yet she could crush him into dust with her magic, with a mere _thought._ )

She started unbuttoning her pants.

[Alex.] he groaned, the last of his patience being tested. <Stop.> he ordered, one of his hands gripping both of her small wrists between his phalanges, pinioning them so she wouldn’t remove _more_ clothing. <Please, _please_ don’t do this now. No more games. Are you capable of bathing on your own?>

“...Yes.” she quietly replied, more subdued than he could ever recall. He probed the connection of their SOULs, finding dejected hurt. 

He carefully ran his phalanges along her jaw, under her chin, coaxing her gaze upwards.

(Red and blue.)

(Still so very much _her._ )

<I love you. I am not telling you ‘no’ forever, only in this moment, alright?> Her gaze shifted down, and he nudged her chin again, regaining her dejected stare, <Alright?> he repeated.

“Yeah.” she muttered.

He sighed with a frown as he released her. Why did she want _him_ so badly?

“Love you.” she murmured, and he was unsure if she gleaned the question from his mind and responded with an answer in turn.

<I’ll get you a towel and some clean clothes.> he finally signed, glancing at her one last time, but she had turned her back to him and began shedding the rest of her clothing, forcing him to look away and flee before he did something he would regret.

* * *

She emerged from the bathroom shortly thereafter, hair black in its saturated state, her eyes barely open. He’d discarded his own dirtied clothing, changing into one of Papyrus’s borrowed pajama pants, scrubbing his phalanges clean of dirt that had crusted into his joints in the kitchen sink while she had washed up.

He stood in the hall and watched her for a moment, just taking her in, backlit by the light in the bathroom. He’d stood here before, many times, looking down at her from this very spot. But in that moment if felt so different. No longer was he trapped in the void, the persistent _reality_ pressing down on him, the carpet fibers below his phalanges, the lingering steam of the shower, all of it served to anchor him in the present moment, in this plane of existence.

How much had changed in him. Yet so much more had changed in her.

There was something haunted in those tired eyes of sapphire and ruby.

_He’d done that to her._

She was sacrificed on the altar for _his_ sins. How could he have let such a thing happen to his beautiful star, his guiding light? How dare he allow her to suffer as she had slowly descended to darkness!?

A tearing pain in his SOUL ached.

“Gaster?” she said, snapping him out of his thoughts, her voice sweet and soft. 

[...Come.] he quietly replied as a sigh, reaching for her hand. It was so small entwined in his own, her warmth seeping into his bones. He led her to the bedroom, pulling back the covers and coaxing her into bed. It took mere moments from the time he pulled the blankets over their bodies for her breathing to slow and even out into a familiar pattern as she succumbed to sleep once more.

Gaster was not so lucky.

He stared at the wall, his body curled around hers protectively. Her back was against his ribcage, her head tucked under his mandible, the bones of his legs pressed into the backs of hers, one arm draped over her side, his hand curled around her middle, his phalanges spanning practically the full width of her abdomen. It was nearly the most amount of contact possible, encircling her completely.

Having her so close, so secure with him, was the only thing that would ease the ache he felt in his SOUL.

...

He almost died today.

His mate _had_ died.

He had felt the moment her heart stopped. 

It very nearly tore his SOUL in two.

It was _agony_ beyond description. Not even the experience of falling into the void had matched it. Her SOUL hadn’t shattered when she fell, though it was a very, very near thing.

He could perceive with painful clarity just how close it had been, and he knew that had her SOUL splintered, it would rend his SOUL into fractured shards that would disintegrate into dust.

He winced, just recalling the sensations of losing her. Alex shifted in her sleep, her brow furrowing from secondhand discomfort. He automatically ran a summoned hand through her dark hair, soothing her unconscious fussing and tugging her impossibly closer once she stilled.

He felt helpless again. The Blue Mage was undoubtedly powerful, holding back a cave’s worth of boulders and rubble from crushing them, her SOUL spurred by DETERMINATION to keep them alive. He lifted his skull and his eyelights glanced down, looking at her now, features once more soft and untroubled as she slept. 

How could he possibly protect someone like her?

How could he keep her happy and whole when she was bound to _him?_ Miserable being that he was, a failure, a fool, petty creature, wretched betrayer, _liar, selfish._

He nuzzled against her neck, kissing her skin, seeking comfort in her warm body to drown out the tormented black thoughts in his mind. He could feel her heartbeat thrumming through her veins against his lips, slow and steady, vital, _alive._ He breathed in her scent, smelling of her floral soap and something uniquely her, herbaceous or a spice he could never name, mixed with the traces of her magic. He felt the pulsation of her very SOUL, quiet and powerful, a low fire inside her chest, a mere spark short of an inferno.

It calmed his anxieties, allowed him to relax fractionally. 

She was _here._

She was _his._

And he would do everything in his power to ensure she _stayed_.

  
  


* * *

_I'm cornered in fire so break out the secrets_

_I hope you know that you were worth it all along_

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this chapter and lyrics are from [Little One by Highly Suspect.](https://youtu.be/XxJENvGBNMM)
> 
> \---
> 
>   
> I don’t know why I wrote this, it wasn’t really plot-relevant nor provides any additional information about the characters we shouldn't already know. Maybe I just like being in the darkness of G-man’s head too much.
> 
> Hopefully you lovers of angst got something out of it.
> 
> [Tumblr](http://fallingstarstuff.tumblr.com/) for my posting schedule and asks.
> 
> 💙 Stay safe, and stay DETERMINED. ❤️


End file.
